Page 19 of Lethal Salvation

“I’m sorry to disturb you, Mr Cavendish, but you have that urgent meeting you asked me to set up.”

He’d done no such thing, but she seemed to know he needed a lifeline and had thrown it before he drowned. “Yes, thank you.”

He held out his hand to his father and walked him to the door. “I’ll call you tomorrow morning with my answer.”

His father looked between him and Nadia and smiled, giving him a wink. “Of course, son.”

As he walked away, Gideon fought to remember the good things from his childhood, the man who’d taught him to swim and ride a bike because the one leaving this office wasn’t him.

Turning, he saw Nadia watching him and knew he needed help. He needed advice and she was the only person he could talk to or felt comfortable talking to about this. “I need to speak with you in my office, Miss Benassi.”

“Of course, sir. Would you like me to order lunch first?”

The way she said sir made his dick harden instantly. The thought of her in that tight skirt on her knees calling him sir sent white hot lust coursing through his body.

“No, change of plans. Let’s go out for lunch, we can talk in the car.”

Surprise flickered over her face briefly. “Okay, would you like me to book somewhere?”

“No, the place I have in mind doesn’t need a booking.”

“I’ll just get my bag then.”

Gideon waited while she grabbed her bag from the bottom drawer of her desk and then looked up at him.

He led her toward the elevator, his hand on the small of her back feeling natural, his urge to touch her in some small way wasn’t something he wanted to examine right now. Nor how the feelings of rejection and anger his father had evoked seemed to dissipate when she was around.

As Saul opened the car door for her, he watched her glance around discreetly as if looking for someone. He followed her gaze but saw nothing out of the ordinary and wondered if it wasn’t just an ingrained habit for her to be cautious.

As she settled back against the leather seat, pushing her skirt over her knees, he sensed the questions she was holding in and was grateful for the time to wrangle his thoughts into some kind of order.

As they neared his penthouse, he glanced sideways and knew she was aware of where he lived. She probably knew every secret he had and yet he felt like he hardly knew this woman who was tying him up in knots.

The light from the sunny late autumn day was hazy and low in the sky as they pulled up outside his building. There was a tranquil almost expectant feel to the air as if summer was having a last hurrah before the cold and rain of winter hit with force.

He kept his briefcase between him and Nadia so as to resist the need to touch her again. Nadia, seeming to sense his need for quiet, had held any questions she had about his father’s visit to herself.

As they had sped towards his penthouse, he had wondered what she’d think about his home. Would she find it cold and uninviting? Would she see the touches of himself in the design that he’d helped the designer create, and more importantly, why did he care?

As they stepped into the foyer, he watched her take in the high ceilings before moving to the mezzanine level and then the wrap-around terrace that had views of the London Eye in the distance.

“Wow, this wasn’t what I expected at all.”

Gideon cocked his head and threw his briefcase on the sofa and headed to the kitchen. “No? What did you expect?”

He saw her run her hands over the fabric of his couch as she wandered through the open concept space toward him where he stood at the island watching her.

“Well, obviously I knew where you lived, but I don’t know. I guess I imagined it would be whiter, more clinical.”

Gideon chuckled. “Well, the designer wanted white, but I wanted a home, not an operating theatre. But still the clean lines and minimalism.”

“I like it, it suits you.”

“Thank you.”

Reaching into her bag, he saw her retrieve a small device and switch it on. “What is that?”

Nadia held up a finger to her lips.